Navigation

Thursday, 20 July 2017

Atiku Reveals - Nigeria Can Be Restructured In 6 Months.

Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s former Vice-President has said the Federal
Government does not need to amend the constitution before commencing the
restructuring of the country.Abubakar, stated this while delivering a lecture on
‘Restructuring Nigeria’ at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on
Wednesday. He declared that Nigeria could be restructured in six months.

He said, “Some of what my ideas of restructuring involve require
constitutional amendment; some do not. Take education and roads for
instance. The Federal Government can immediately start the process of
transferring federal roads to the state governments along with the
resources it expends on them.

“In the future if the Federal Government identifies the need for a new
road that would serve the national interest, it can support the affected
states to construct such roads, and thereafter leave the maintenance to
the states, which can collect tolls from road users for the
purpose.“The Federal Government does not need a constitutional amendment
to start that process.

“The same goes for education and health care. We must reverse the
epidemic of federal take-over of state and voluntary organisations’
schools and hospitals which began in the 1970s, and also transfer those
established by the Federal Government to the states.

“We do not need a constitutional amendment to transfer federal
universities and colleges as well as hospitals to the states where they
are located.

“The country can be restructured in six months, all you have to do is
return the items on the concurrent list to the states,” he added.

Atiku noted that it was not unusual for Nigerians to have different
opinions on restructuring because “it is a concept that means different
things to different people.”

“To me, restructuring means making changes to our current federal
structure so it comes closer to what our founding leaders established,
in response to the very issues and challenges that led them to opt for a
less centralised system.